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Chaldea, "the Chaldees" of the KJV Old Testament, was a Hellenistic designation for a part of Babylonia. One early such reference is to the impending sack of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II (Habakkuk 1:6). The Hebrew name for ancient Chaldeans was כשדים (Kaśdim).
The Book of Genesis narrative of Abraham places him at Ur, which was at a later time the country of the kasdim— the "Chaldeans", or just possibly the "Kassites". The toponymy is that of the Neo-Babylonian period of the Torah editors, not that of the supposed time of the original patriarch of the Hebrew people himself.
The 11th dynasty of the Kings of Babylon (6th century BC) is conventionally known to historians as the Chaldean Dynasty. Their kingdom in the southern portion of Babylonia lay chiefly on the right bank of the Euphrates. Though the name came to be commonly used to refer to the whole of Mesopotamia, Chaldea proper was the vast plain in the south formed by the deposits of the Euphrates and the Tigris, extending to about four hundred miles along the course of these rivers, and about a hundred miles in average width.
Politics
The Chaldean influence was felt in Babylonian politics. Several 9th and 8th century BC Babylonian kings were of Chaldean origin. The Chaldeans formed some of the strongest resistance to Assyrian rule. King Marduk-apal-iddina II resisted the Assyrians in the times of Sargon II and the early years of Sennacherib. King Mushezib-Marduk was king just before Sennacherib's sack of Babylon in 689 BC.
When Babylonia finally reestablished its independence, it was under the Chaldean Dynasty of king Nabopolassar. After the conquest of Babylonia by the Persians, the Chaldeans disappear as an independent nation.
"Chaldean" astrologers and mathematicians
Roman and later authors used the name Chaldeans in particular for astrologers and mathematicians from Babylonia.
External links and references
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"Chaldea"